Month: December 2014

The industry of web hostings today is quite large and there are literally hundreds of companies offering customized solutions. Most of these companies have web hosting packages on one or two platforms: Linux or Windows. Traditionally, Windows is the most expensive solution due to product licenses and licenses that you need to pay Microsoft to use Windows. But also, the operating system provides the power and usability that make it a popular choice, especially for business customers. In this article we will help you determine if Windows hosting is the best solution for you or not.

Windows Prevalence

The Microsoft Windows operating system is installed on about 90% of home computers. Even considering that Linux and Unix are more popular in the web hostings industry, the prevalence of Windows in the house options and business makes it a popular choice for those who are familiar with the system. When in need of enhanced functionality, user-friendly working environment and a set of rich features, it is clear that customers will choose to choose Windows hosting.

Windows Programming

Windows hosting offers a completely different programming environment of Linux and other similar systems with Linux. The most popular technologies that are supported by Windows hosting packages are ASP and ASP.net. These programming languages allow to create dynamic web pages and applications that will serve content to your visitors in an effective manner. The unique quality of Windows is the fact that not only it supports the Microsoft programming languages, but also open-source technologies such as PHP and Perl.

Windows Databases

Windows differs by offering support for multiple types of databases. A Linux-based package usually comes with support for MySQL and PostgreSQL databases. A Windows hosting plan let you have access to MS Access databases or MS SQL, database systems used in enterprise environments. The MS SQL much power is often a determining factor for choosing Windows instead of Linux.

Windows Control Panel

Although cPanel, the leading software in the control panel is specific to the Linux platform, there are also good control panels available for Windows. For now, the most popular control panel is the Plesk or Helm software. Also supported are other control panels as is the case with Ensim or M-Sphere. These programs are different in terms of presentation and functionality but both give the possibility to effectively manage Windows hosting account.

Linux is an open source platform and has always been the most favorite OS in web hosting, simply because it allows web hosting companies to offer web hosting at affordable and cheap costs. Host.co.in offers a full range of Linux Web Hosting plans, ranging from shared web hosting to dedicated server hosting; this puts us in a position that means we can meet the needs of any prospective customers, with our 24×7 support team on hand to offer any assistance necessary. The open source nature of the Linux platform also enables a wider variety of customization, which has led to a number of third-party modifications and applications being available that are also open source; this means that the overall cost of running a Linux server is going to be far less than that of a comparable Windows server.

It is important to consider that the operating system that you choose to use as the platform for your web hosting plan will serve as a guide as to which technologies you can use to develop your website as well as the features that you can expect from a web hosting plan. In the case of the Linux operating system, Host.co.in recommends that you use this platform if you wish to utilize the following technologies as part of your web applications:

If developing scalable web applications, the PHP scripting language is one of the best choices available in terms of scripting frameworks because it can offer you a wide variety of features and modules that can be used to create feature-rich web applications
If a database backend is needed for your website then we recommend using MySQL databases on a Linux platform because advanced support is offered for these with the control panel that we use for a majority of our Linux hosting services, cPanel
Support for advanced CGI scripts that can be used for more complex purposes such as email piping to databases are also supported with our Linux web hosting plans.
Linux can offer variety when you come to consider dedicated hosting, whether this be a VPS server or a dedicated server; there are many different Linux distributions to choose from and with each distribution having been designed for a different purpose, this represents another opportunity to develop a highly customized hosting environment. If there is a distribution that you would like to use, but sure unsure if Host.co.in offers it, please contact our support team as they will be able to arrange a solution that falls in line with your requirements.

Windows Web Hosting Services

As is the case with our Linux web hosting plans, Host.co.in also offers a number of different Windows web hosting services at different pricing points that are aimed at different target audiences. Windows is a commercial operating system and for this reason you should expect Windows web hosting services to be slightly more expensive than Linux hosting services of a similar specification; however the target audience for Windows hosting is often different to that of Linux. With Linux hosting often targeted at beginners and enthusiasts, Windows hosting is offered by Host.co.in with a target audience of businesses of all sizes in mind.

Windows is a closed operating system with many of the technologies and applications supported by the operating system being commercial in their licensing nature as well, therefore meaning that they will only function on Windows and no other OS. Examples of such applications can include:

Microsoft SQL Server is an enterprise-class database server that is used extensively to power web applications and the internal applications used by large corporations; the fact that it only works with the Windows OS guarantees full compatibility and integration with the platform

If you are going to be developing web applications for the Windows platform then you will be wanting to use ASP.NET 4.0 so that you can access the full power of the Windows OS

As a Windows dedicated hosting customer, Host.co.in can provide installation of Microsoft Exchange Server if you are looking for a highly scalable email and collaboration system that your employees can use to communicate with one another.

For beginners that haven’t used the Windows platform before we recommend that you begin with one of our feature-rich Window shared hosting plans; this will put you in a good position to learn what the Plesk control panel and the other features of our Windows services can offer you. Host.co.in can also offer fully managed Windows VPS servers and Windows dedicated servers for businesses in need of a highly reliable web hosting service with a dedicated environment.

Windows vs. Linux

The choice between Windows and Linux is one that you will need to make based on your own or your businesses aspirations. Every business looking to establish a web presence will have different requirements and although both platforms can offer the same in terms of hosting your website, it’s the finer details that help to differentiate the two platforms. Host.co.in offers both Windows hosting and Linux hosting so that there is something available for anyone wanting to consider us for their hosting needs; regardless of the platform package that you choose, you will be entitled to receive our full 24×7 support.

The cloud computing technology and trend racing ahead have achieved a great speed in the last few years and now in 2014, making its move into the data centers, displacing all the traditional computation and storage methods.

Recently, a 2014 IT Priorities survey was conducted by TechTarget, where around 1700 IT professionals, managers and business analysts have shown their interest and participated. As a result, after asking their opinions, it was clear that the cloud-based projects are gaining a very large share of the IT budgets, even as the other line items fall down or stay unchangeable.

From the survey conducted, it was found that 30 percent of businesses are planning to adopt the cloud hosting services or cloud computing-based solutions offered by the external service providers, while another 22 percent of companies have plans on implementing their own private cloud. Participants also mentioned that the share for cloud services will increase by 40 percent by the end of 2015.

Today, the most used cloud-based application are Disaster Recovery or Disaster Recovery as a Service (DraaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), however, the result has shown IT professionals interest more in the cloud storage services. Mainly for archiving purpose, the cloud storage is a perfect solution which helps in saving space and stores the data for longer in less investment.

The result showed that by the end of 2015, around 20 percent of the companies from those 60 percent will have their storage and backup into the cloud. Moreover, 45 percent of the participated people said that they are planning to use the Storage as a Service (STaaS) in mid 2015, whereas, only 52 percent people have plans to use Software as a Service.

People are now making more and more use of cloud-based services for bulk archive and storing their sensitive data. As the cloud-based services are getting implemented and utilized by companies, it is getting clear that the virtual data center is getting people away from the physical data centers.

While cloud storage has opened up a world of opportunities and aids further validate migration to the cloud, but with it, plenty of compliance and security issues. Unexpectedly, it was found in the survey that 19 percent businesses have plans to implement external Security as a Service in 2014.

Large organizations are planning and the concept of cloud as a resource are sold on for their global enterprise. However, the security issues drive raised costs, as security requirements are pushing IT professionals to look into internal hosting vs the much-advertised cost savings from the third-party providers.

The year 2015 is going to be great for technology industry, as much of the companies will be contributing towards cloud computing growth and success by implementing various cloud-based services.